Canaan Valley 2-Day Workshop – The Art of Riding Smooth
Includes: 2 Breakfasts, Saturday Dinner, 1 Night Lodging, 2 Days Instruction over 450 miles, Headset, Full Course Syllabus. You pay for gas/lunch.
Fee: $750 first two Workshops in April
$925.00 for rest of the season
Maximum size: 5
The Canaan Valley Workshop consists of two 250 mile days motorcycling the best northern Appalachian back roads. My routes exceed riders’ expectations in this regard. The Workshop is for intermediate/advanced riders who are interested in developing the skills of the “top flight” motorcyclist. After all, it’s the only way you can ride these roads well! The emphasis is on situational awareness, precision and smoothness. The pace on day one is relaxed as riders take in and begin to practice various skills received from your wireless radio. There will be very little traffic. The Workshop covers Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.
The Canaan Valley Workshop begins at 7:30 AM in the parking lot of the Super 8 Motel in Thurmont, Maryland. From there, we’ll ride a very short distance for breakfast where introductions are made. Riders that come to my Workshops are “cut from a certain cloth.” You’ll find you share a lot in common with each other. Afterward, I’ll give an overview of the Workshop and what is expected of each rider. I’ll review the Course Syllabus and your wireless radio. Then we’ll begin a crafted route of beautiful Invisible Roads geared to be challenging yet never overwhelming. My goal is for the route alone, to be one of your best motorcycling experiences ever.
Invisible Roads aren’t open thru roads. Instead, they are technical double yellow and lane-and-a-half roads with good pavement where precise bike placement and rpm are keys to riding them well.
Via the radios, you’ll be receiving timely, useful riding suggestions all along the way.
We’ll take plenty breaks along the route where we’ll discuss certain skill sets. Lunch, around 12:30, is at Tari’s Café in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The food is great. We’ll arrive at the Canaan Valley Lodge between 6:00 and 6:30 PM. Drinks and dinner is usually at 7:30. Everybody usually sleep well.
Day Two is again roughly 250 miles to the Workshop’s conclusion at Point of Rocks, Maryland. The Invisible Roads we’ll ride are more open, and mountainous. The roads are all excellent for applying skills introduced from the day before. The pace is slightly brisker – a balance between absorbing without tension.
Breakfast, at 7:00 AM, is in the main lodge and departure is around 8:30. About an hour out, we’ll arrive at Seneca Rocks, West Virginia where I like to take a group photograph . From Seneca Rocks, it’s more great motorcycling to a late lunch at Sal’s Italian Bistro in Edinburg, Virginia. Sal is from Naples, Italy. The food is excellent!
After lunch, the entire Syllabus will have been reviewed and discussed. We’ll share questions, comments, and insights.
Riders needing an early start for home can access I-81. The rest of us ride on to Point of Rocks where the Workshop formally concludes around 5:00 PM. It’s easy ride back to Thurmont for riders wanting to spend the night before returning home.
The Canaan Valley Workshop is a 500 mile motorcycling education. By journey’s end, you’ll have met new friends and be thoroughly acquainted with the skills you’ll hone to become a fluid, expertly smooth motorcyclist. Book Now
“The Rider’s Workshop has value for every rider; that’s what Jim Ford of The Rider’s Workshop delivers. During all three of my workshops with Jim Ford, my appreciation for motorcycling has been elevated to new levels.
I have yet to find an investment into this great passion of mine that parallels what The Rider’s Workshop has consistently delivered.
Jim Ford strikes a precious balance as a connoisseur of hidden roads and as a master of riding smoothly. Jim creates and manages a group riding experience that reaches into the untapped potential within every rider (even the seasoned high milers).
The Rider’s Workshop is an experience you will never forget and you wish would never end. These workshops have saved me days, if not weeks and years of seeking out “invisible roads.”
More importantly, they might also have saved my life, as I expand the huge unsailed ocean that Jim has exposed me to. Looking forward to the next ride!” Jon Berghoff Falls Church, Virginia
